Your Choices For The Most Irritating Habits Of Your Co-workers
Posted November 5, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Last week we told you about a survey that listed the most irritating habits of co-workers in a modern office setting. The winner, if you can call it that, for most annoying trait was gossipers and all the whispers that go along with them. Poor time management was second, followed by messy desk keepers, bad smells, loud noises, too many PDAs being accessed during meetings and an overuse of email.
And then we asked you to submit your own stories of your personal moments in workplace hell. And you didn’t disappoint. We received so many emails on this topic that the person who handles the distribution of them all jokingly complained it was her new pet peeve!
So what wound up being the thing that bugs GTA workers the most? Gossip was mentioned, but it’s hardly at the top of the list. If there’s one thing that seems to stand out most from your stories it’s a simple lack of consideration. Many were upset that co-workers seem to have nothing better to do than not work at all, while taking great pains to interrupt those who are in the middle of something important.
And then there are the people who spend much of their day on the phone dealing with something decidedly non-business related. As you’ll see, that cropped up numerous times, too.
And let’s not forget the office romances, the slackers, the non-stop talkers, the loud shouters, bosses who’d rather play video games than do real work and those who do disgusting things at their desks.
Here’s a look at some of your gripes. For obvious reasons, the names have been shortened to initials and in cases where requested, total anonymity has been offered. The office complaint department is open for business. And if nothing else, you can take some solace in the fact that you’re not suffering through all this alone.
“One thing that irritates me the most at work, are people who listen to your conversations with someone else and then go on to make comments. Although most of us work in open environments, it does not give a conversation free rein for unsolicited comments by co-workers. In other words mind your business!!!”
KS
And that viewer isn’t alone:
“More and more offices now are designed as “open concept” workspaces. So there is very little privacy or quiet time when working. In this environment what annoys me is people who assume that because I don’t have the luxury of a wall or a door, that they can freely walk by, comment about something I’m doing or interrupt me as I am working on something.”
LB
“Social butterflies that flit from desk to desk and won’t take the hint when you say you’re busy and need to get back to work.”
JG
“When someone asks you, “Are you busy?” because they need something from you. YES, I’m busy! But ask me anyway.”
LS
“The thing that drives me the craziest is people who are off work too often, because the rest of us have to take up the slack. Not only that, but a lot of times, we don’t have access to information needed because the info is on their computer, so work falls behind.”
JS
“Fingernail clipping! Gross!”
XT
The original survey dealt with smelly food but here’s a twist those poll takers never heard.
“One of the things that has driven me the craziest at work is people eating “loud” food, like carrot sticks, while they’re working. I haven’t found anything more annoying than that! Save the loud stuff for lunch time, and eat your soft snacks at your desk!”
KS
Another noise complaint has nothing to do with food.
“The most annoying thing is one of my coworkers has a bad habit of sniffling (does not blow their nose) all day while working in a small office. On one occasion someone even placed a box of tissues on the desk. She still does not use the Kleenex, she even talks on the phone and sniffles. We have even asked her to please blow her nose. Even that does not work.”
SC
“Professional annoyances came in the form of co-workers who tried to read what I was working on – even if it was confidential material. People who tried to jump in on my projects to make themselves look important. I especially remember working three months for a company that went bankrupt because their Operations Manager and Head of Sales would rather play “Networked DOOM” than take care of the multi-million dollar company in the lobby. And the company could clearly see what they were doing!”
SH
“My answer to your question of, “What’s the one thing that happens where you work that makes you want to strangle the person next to you?” is an overly negative co-worker. It is soooo draining and irritating when you can hear and actually work with someone that is negative, negative, negative all of the time every day, 8 hours a day. I (we as in other co-workers) just want to tell her to “shut up”!!!!! Be positive and be happy. That’s all!”
CS
“The most irritating work habit is all the personal phone calls one of the girls gets everyday. If it’s not one of her adult daughters, it’s her sister or her boyfriend. On a good day she gets approx. 6 calls per day. One day she received at least 12 (and that’s not exaggerating!!!!) She can yack a good half hour. It drives us all nuts.”
AC
And in a similar vein:
“The most annoying thing at my office is my neighbour talks at the top of her lungs whenever she is on the phone – so we have to listen to all her private and work calls. People three cubicles over hear all her conversations word for word, and it’s hard to decide how to deal with it.”
CL
This seems to be a theme:
“The most annoying habit of my co-workers is when they complain about how much work they have to do while they are talking on the phone to a friend outside of the company. STOP and think about it people – work hours are for work!!”
Anonymous
Another unknown emailer also finds this offensive:
“The co-worker beside my cubicle, on the phone with contractors continuously trying to get quotes and design ideas for renovating his kitchen. (I hear so much I may actually be an expert in it now.)”
Anonymous
“The things that really get to me is when in an open environment that most of us are in are the following:
1) Having a meeting in your cubicle while using the speaker phone – talk about privacy issues.
2) People just walking into your area and talking to you – like you are sitting there waiting for them to come over – we all have work to do.
3) People who cannot wait for you to get off a BUSINESS CALL – making gestures and writing notes so that you will get off – usually this is for more of some gossip or personal stuff that could have waited.
4) Personal Cell Phones going off during business hours that have a high volume and usually have that Latin theme going on – hey I like to Rhumba, just not at 8am!!!”
SV
Speaking of cell phones:
“ P eople who leave their cell phone at their desk and don’t take it with them. Every time the phone rings [and they aren’t there to answer it] you are subjected to their personal choice of ring tone which goes on for up to 30 secs.”
AM
“A young, male co-worker who speaks really loud to the receptionist who he has been flirting with forever, not to mention she is about ten years his senior and she has a limited grasp of English so she really doesn’t understand half of the sad pick up lines he uses. All day every day!”
Anonymous
“Co-workers who don’t do their jobs and wait for others to pick up the slack! I.E. the receptionist who gossips away with a co-worker and ignores the ringing phones. GRRRRRR – the calls go to voice mail and then customers get annoyed. Please, we all work for the same place! No business, no jobs!”
SC
“My peeve is co-workers being paid the same as me but do so very little and getting away with it.”
RS
And finally a person whose idea of an annoying work habit involves having to show up at the office at all.
“It’s a waste of time and money to go to an office to do on a desktop what you could more productively do remotely. And as far as meetings go, there is such a thing as conference calls.
“There would be a lot less sick days when not fighting other peoples’ coughs and colds on crowded transit as well. Not to mention the benefits to the environment when not having to drive to work.”
“The bottom line: it is much cheaper for a company to pay for a business line than a workspace and employees would gain an extra $3,000 to $4,000 yearly when not having to pay it out just to get to work.”
SC
O.K., sure – but then who’d be there to eat loud food while sneezing or set up an irritating ringtone while gossiping about an office romance as their boss plays Doom on a loudspeaker phone while no one gets any work done? Thanks for your responses. And try not to let the small things bother you. Like it or not, there seem to be plenty of them to go around.
